


The Fog on the Corner of Potter Street

by HelixDraxzonyx



Series: HelixDraxzonyx's Horror Shorts Collection [11]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27657449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelixDraxzonyx/pseuds/HelixDraxzonyx
Summary: Two people, separately, encounter an unusual patch of fog on a street corner. Not thinking of it as anything more than a bizarre weather phenomenon, they enter the fog. What they find inside is difficult for them to believe, let alone accept.
Series: HelixDraxzonyx's Horror Shorts Collection [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1547110





	The Fog on the Corner of Potter Street

I'm writing this in the hopes that, if I don't make it back, someone will find this and know what exactly happened. If you _do_ find my phone, and this message on it, then maybe you already know how I got here. Maybe you've seen it too: that weird patch of fog on the corner of Potter Street. I just chalked it up to being some kind of atmospheric phenomenon, some weird freak of weather, resulting in a random patch of fog about three feet across and maybe ten feet high, just kind of gathered on the corner of the pavement by the road down from Hillside as it meets Potter Street. I was barely paying any attention to it. I mean, parallel worlds and things are just the stuff of sci-fi and horror movies, or so I thought. But now, I'm not so sure. I think that's where I am now. Some other world. I entered into the patch of fog... and I haven't exactly left it. Not exactly. The fog eased a little, enough for me to see my surroundings. Whereas only moments before I'd been surrounded by the depressing town of Harlow, Essex: now I was standing in a forest. No pavements, no buildings, no roads. No signs of civilization or mankind's mark upon the world. I tried retracing my steps... but I didn't go back. Whatever it was that lead to me coming to this place, it seems like it was a one-way deal.

I spent nearly an hour or so searching around the forest. I'd been dumped out into a clearing, best as I could see, so I searched around the edge of the clearing, gradually sweeping further and further out. There's nothing, nothing helpful that I can see, anyway. Just trees, grass, mushrooms and bushes, and the fog of course. Nothing that really tells me where the heck I am, or how to get back. Wherever I am though... it's habitable, as best I can tell. The temperature is a few degrees colder, the air is pretty fresh and clean, no obvious pollutants or anything like that. I don't think I'm on some alien world. The trees and plants all look familiar. Oak, willow, silver birch. I've seen roses, daffodils, tulips and poppies. I've seen all kinds of things that I'm familiar with on Earth... just no Humans. No animals at all, come to think of it. At least, I haven't _seen_ any animals. I'm sure there are some around. I hear squirrels every now and then, but they stay well away from me. I guess I'm the first Human they've encountered. Maybe. I think I hear other small animals too, sometimes, but it's hard for me to be sure. This situation's got me rattled, and for the most part it's super quiet. So quiet that I think I'm starting to hallucinate a good chunk of what I'm hearing. I'm not used to silence. This town is anything but quiet. Traffic from the A414 and M11 roads, trains blaring their horns all through the day as they come through the town station, no shortage of air traffic coming in and out of Stansted Airport as well. I mean, we're a commuter town of about 70,000 people, all crammed into a couple square miles of ugly houses and flats. It's never quiet, so winding up in some misty forest in the middle of God knows where with no sign of Human life anywhere... I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I'm hearing things. I've gotten so used to the background noise of urban living that I never truly realised how much noise I've been surrounded by, and what, therefore, silence sounds like.

If the clock on my phone is accurate, which I'm starting to doubt, it's about 1pm now. That means I've been here for three hours, give or take. I can't see the sun at all. The fog seems to stretch out to infinity in all directions. It doesn't feel any warmer than when I got here. I've given up searching around the clearing. I decided instead to pick a direction and walk, see if I can come across some kind of hill or something, something that might get be above the layer of fog, if that's at all possible. If I could climb trees I'd try doing that, but the last time I tried climbing trees I broke my leg. I don't want to risk that happening again when there's no doctors around to treat me. If I get injured out here, wherever here is, I could be royally screwed. I'm not trained in first aid even, so I doubt I could even handle a small cut. I'll be damned if I die due to an infected paper-cut or some crap like that. Anyway, I can't confirm what time of day it is. GPS is disconnected, so I guess that means there's no satellites. Probably should have seen that one coming since I seem to be the only Human here, possibly in this whole world. God, I can't think about that. Every time that damn thought tries to creep into my brain, I start hyperventilating. I start panicking. I start hallucinating. I need to hold it together. If I'm going to get out of here, I can't lose my damn mind. So I try to distract myself instead. I think that's part of the reason I started writing this. I figured that if I try to recount everything that happened, maybe I can rationalise it. Maybe I can even pick up on something I over-looked initially, that might help me to get back to my world. No luck so far but I'll keep trying.

I'm back at the clearing. Damn it. I think I've heard about this. When people have no landmarks to go by, they end up walking in circles even when they think they're going in a straight line. Damn. There's just nothing I can use as a landmark here. Not for long anyway. Not with this persistent fog. All the trees look normal. Hell, there aren't even any “haunted” trees that look like they have faces, or anything like that. Everything looks so generic. The only distinct feature in the whole area I've seen is this clearing, and that's not helpful to me except to tell me that I've gone in a circle. I need to stop and think things through, I think. Striking out without a clear plan wasn't a good idea. I just didn't expect this fog to go on for so long. I mean, if my clock really _is_ accurate, shouldn't the heat of the sun burn away at the fog? Then again, I can't even see the sun, so maybe there's just too much fog to burn away. I don't know. I don't know what to do right now. If I go off walking again, I'll just get lost, or else go in another circle. If I stay... then what? Will someone else walk into that patch of fog on the corner of Potter Street too? Will they also end up here? Is that patch of fog even still there, or did it disappear after I went into it? I don't know. I think I'll stay put though. I'm tired after all that walking. It didn't accomplish anything. A forest clearing is safe, isn't it? If there are wild animals here, they'd stick within the forest itself, where there's cover, instead of going into the open, right? Crap. I wish I'd watched all those Bear Grylls shows now. I could probably have learned something I could use to help myself. It's true what they say: Hindsight's 20/20.

There's something here. I don't know what it is, but it sounds kinda big. I thought I was just getting used to the silence, then it got _really_ silent around here. The squirrels have gone quiet. All the other small animals I thought I could hear... I can't hear those any more either. I never heard any birds, or insects for that matter. Even the breeze seems to have stopped. Just a total, complete, oppressive silence. For a while. Then I started hearing something else. I thought it was an owl or something at first. I could hear a faint, kind of swooshing sound, like an owl's wings in the distance. Except that this isn't in the distance. It's somewhere pretty close to the clearing, I know that much, but I can't see it. I can only very rarely hear it. I'm sure it's flapping wings that I can hear, but the flapping is very slow. Each flap seems to take a long time to complete, and there's a long interval between flaps. That's why I think it's something big. It sounds like it has very large wings. But what the heck is it? A heron? But like, a super quiet one? Can't be. A heron wouldn't make all the other animals go silent. Wait... then wouldn't that mean it's a bird of prey? Some kind of big eagle or something? How... how big could it be? Could it be

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I wish I could tell you. I really do. My name's Michael. I found this phone, and the things written on it. I don't know what happened to the owner, but I fear that I'll soon find out. I'm such an idiot. I'm from Harlow, too. I found that same patch of fog on the corner of Potter Street. My idiot brain told me it'd be cool to walk through it. Yeah, really God damn cool. So cool it shoved me out into some parallel world or some crap, I don't know, and this phone's owner didn't know either. Samantha, I think her name is, if I'm reading this phone right. I did things a little differently to her. I didn't sweep the clearing first, so I didn't find the phone right away. I went straight to marching. Had the same result she did: went in a damn circle. That's when I found the phone. I started reading the journal, and I had to fight to stop my bladder from emptying itself there and then. My heart's still hammering, it just won't stop. I'm paranoid out of my skull about this big flying thing she was talking about. I think it might be gone, for now at least. I hear what sounds like squirrels, maybe rabbits too. Can't be sure. Can't see shit. The fog is still hanging around.

First thing I did when I read about the flying thing was head straight into the trees. Samantha thought she was safe in the clearing. Obviously not. If it really is big, if it's big enough to attack a person, then it'll have trouble in the trees. It'll have to land and crawl around, and then maybe I can fight it on my own terms. I'm not dying like she did. Nope. No way. This world can suck my left nut. I'm heading into the trees, looking around for the thickest, most crowded area I can. Then... well I'll figure that out later. Maybe I'll see if I can make some kind of improvised spear, or something. It's worth a shot. An improvised spear is better than nothing, damn it. What the Hell, man? I thought today was going to be just like any other day. Hit the gym, grab some lunch, hang out with the lads, maybe have kick about, few drinks. Living the good life. Except life decided to give me the finger and drop me off in some Stephen King bullshit. I need to calm down. I know it. I know I need to be calm but how the hell do you keep your head in a situation like this? How can anyone be calm when they get dropped into some other world and find a phone, the last remains of some other unlucky sod who ended up in this place too? It's nuts! They don't teach you this sort of thing in school. Too busy trying to teach us algebra, but how the hell is knowing what X equals going to help me survive against some kind of giant, man-eating bird monster? Crap.

Alright. I think I've calmed down. Well, more than I was earlier. The shock has kinda faded. Still lingering but I'm not in full panic anymore. I have a spear. Well, I have a branch with a pointy end to it, anyway. Healthy branch, best I can tell, but I'm not a tree-hugger so I have no idea what kind of tree I even got this branch from. All I know is it's sturdy, doesn't flex much, doesn't weigh a ton, and it broke my pen knife while sharpening the tip. That sounds good to me, though I wish I still had the knife as a back-up. Still, I have something to protect myself with. I'd try lighting a fire but I can't find any dry wood. The fog seems to be keeping everything damp. Just like Samantha, I haven't been watching Bear Grylls, so I don't know jack about trying to light a fire with moist wood. Maybe it's possible, maybe it isn't. I wouldn't know. I live in an urban environment for Christ's sake, why would I need to know survival stuff? I'm not one of those nutters you read about making doomsday bunkers and crap in their garden. I don't believe in zombies, and until today I didn't believe in other worlds either. Not like this. Other planets, sure, but this kind of parallel dimension type thing? Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

There's something else that's been giving me a headache. This phone. There's something weird about it. Bloody good battery life, from what I can tell. It's been at least four hours since I found it, and there's still estimated to be about 12 hours life left on it. That can't be right, can it? With apps running and me adding to this journal thing... the battery shouldn't have so much charge left. Phones these days are notorious for having crap battery life. Not like those old 3310s that never seem to die. So how's this one still going so strong? There's something nagging me at the back of my mind, but every time I try to bring it into the spotlight, it seems to run away from me. I need to stop chasing it. I need to relax and let the thought, or whatever it is, come out into the open by itself. I'm never going to get anywhere like this. Things are getting quiet, and getting dark too. Assuming the phone's clock is accurate, it's getting to nearly 9pm now. That's... actually kind of weird. It's not summer, it shouldn't be getting dark this late. Maybe the clock _is_ wonky, then. Must be. Going by how dark it's getting, it must be about 6pm now. Or... is it? Now that I look at the fog itself, it seems like its glowing? Glowing fog? How does that work? I don't get it, but I'm sure it's glowing. So maybe the clock _is_ right after all. Rats, I can't tell. Just something else to give me a headache, like the warmth of the phone. That's it! Yeah, that's it! That's what's been nagging me at the back of my mind. This phone was warm when I picked it up. Like it had been held until very recently. But that would mean

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_What it meant was that Samantha had been taken and killed only a couple of minutes before Michael found her phone. He had appeared into that world while she was still alive. Had either of them tried calling out, they might have even heard one another. If Michael had found his way back to the clearing a little sooner, he might have been able to help Samantha. Or he could also have died then and there. It's impossible to say what difference he could have made. Ultimately, his fate was the same as hers._

_The Institute recovered the phone, and the journal contained on it, some ten hours or so after Michael's final entry. The battery was almost depleted, but we connected it to a portable charger and learned about these two people. And now, you will know what happened as well. As you may have guessed, the fog on the corner of Potter Street marked a gateway into a parallel world. The Earth passes through many of these every day, which is what makes this particular gateway so unusual. The Earth usually passes straight through them, so quickly that nothing usually comes of it, though we do sometimes notice them. Have you ever been sitting home alone, and then seen a moving shadow from the corner of your eye? Most people have. 99.9% of the time, those shadows fall across rifts in spaces and into our world. The shadows aren't actually moving, it's the Earth that's moving. This gateway, however, was fixed in place. The Institute detected it and sent out Crisis Response Unit. Unfortunately, both Samantha and Michael found it before we could get there. They didn't realise it, but they both actually lived very close to one another, and were both in that parallel world at the same time, until they were picked off. That parallel world is perfectly overlapped with ours. That parallel Earth is moving in the same direction and at the same speed as ours, which is why the rift stayed around instead of being left behind. That's also why Samantha and Michael were able to breathe. They were on another version of Earth. Mostly similar atmosphere, save for lower Carbon Dioxide levels and slightly higher Oxygen levels. On that version of Earth, Humans never evolved. We haven't conducted enough studies to know why, they just didn't._

_So what is the dominant life form? What was it that killed Samantha and Michael? Desmodus Draculae Titanus, is the classification we've given it. Or to put it in simpler terms: the Titan Vampire Bat. Desmodus Draculae was a species of giant Vampire Bat that used to live in our world during the Pleistocene Era, and was about 30% larger than the Common Vampire Bat (Desmodus Rotundus) that still lives today. Desmodus Draculae Titanus, however, is unique to the parallel Earth. A significantly larger evolution, with a wingspan of close to thirty feet. A single Titan Vampire Bat is easily capable of exsanguinating an adult Human, though two would be a bit too much to consume in one day. As I said though, this species is the dominant life form. We put their population at around 1 billion bats, spread around that parallel world. They are highly skilled hunters, very powerful, and quite intelligent. Considering their size, their ability to fly so quietly is quite impressive. They have a symbiotic relationship with another species in that world, a species of carnivorous centipede that we've classified as Scolopendra Draconis: the Dragon Centipede. While the Titan Vampire Bats feed on blood, the Dragon Centipedes feed on what is left. In return for this, the Dragon Centipedes act as ground scouts for the Titan Vampire Bats, targetting prey that the bats cannot reach. This is what happened to Michael. The Titan Vampire Bats that were hunting him could not get to him through the trees, so the Dragon Centipedes tracked him down, stunned him with their venom, and dragged him to the clearing to be drained of his blood. Scolopendra Draconis have been observed to grow to fifteen feet in length, and possess truly Herculean strength. Dragging an adult male is quite easy for them to accomplish, especially when said male is paralysed._

_The Institute has since sealed the rift that both Samantha and Michael ventured through, but others exist. There are some which are so remote they can be left open, and are used by The Institute to send drones through so that we can map out this parallel Earth, study it, and see if we can find out why the rifts are naturally one-way portals. Thankfully, The Institute has technology to turn such portals into two-way rifts, but do not use that as a reason to wander carelessly into any rifts you may happen to come across. There are always new ones opening up, and we don't yet know why. So if you see a random patch of fog hanging around so out of place, stay away from it. Don't end up as food for the inhabitants of a parallel Earth. Let us at The Institute deal with this, for your own sake._


End file.
